

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
E-ISSN: 1555-2462|28|2-3|149-233
ISSN: 0002-0206
Source: African Studies Review, Vol.28, Iss.2-3, 1985-09, pp. : 149-233
Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.
Abstract
This article is extracted from a larger essay which grew as a consequence (or, more exactly, as an accident) of an invitation to establish a survey on African philosophy. Strictly speaking, the notion of African philosophy refers to contributions of Africans practicing philosophy within the definite framework of the discipline and its historical tradition (Horton, 1976; Hountondji, 1977; Mudimbe, 1983b). It is only metaphorically or, at best, from a historicist perspective, that one would extend the notion to African traditional systems of thought, considering them as dynamic processes of integrating concrete experiences into the order of concepts and discourses (Ladrière, 1979: 14-15). Thus, I have preferred to title this text “African Gnosis.” J. Fabian used the notion of